So You’re Thinking of Becoming a Writer…

Why do you write? If you’re thinking of becoming a writer, it means you already write, and you’ve been doing it for years, no matter if anyone ever got to read your creations. If you want to assess your success chances, before you start contacting publishers and looking for writing tips, you should take the time to consider your motivation.

Why? There is more to writing than matching a few words, covering a certain topic, or answering some questions. Writing is more than a profession, a way to make a living, or a path to fame and fortune. It is a form of existence, and has nothing to do with the number of works published or the number of readers. If you write because it’s in your nature, and it helps you express yourself and give life to your thoughts and feelings, you should continue.

If you do it because you saw an opportunity to make a living, build a career, or reach a certain degree of fame, you should think again. Charles Bukowski advised wannabe writers to give up if the words didn’t come out of their heart, mind, mouth, and gut, unasked. We agree.

Writing is not a skill you can acquire. It is an innate talent. You can perfect it, enrich it, you can develop new, related skills, but the call, the need to grab a pen, bring words to life, and give them new meanings must come from within. If it doesn’t, then you probably aren’t cut out to be a writer, and not even the best writing tips in the world can change that.

Writers are also curious. They have an innate desire to find out more about people and things, to read and learn as much as possible. They don’t need reasons to grab a book and read it from cover to cover, and they find themselves asking questions and building scenarios in the most peculiar situations. For them, writing is a form of liberation, of self-discovery, of reaching out to the world.

If writing helps you feel free, know yourself, and express yourself, then the following tips may help. If you’re thinking of becoming a writer because you don’t have better career perspectives, you should think again. Here are a few tips that should help beginner writers find their way:

 5 Infallible Beginner Writing Tips

1. Decide When and How You Want to Write

This may sound a little odd to innate writers who find themselves scribbling anytime, anywhere. However, you need to decide whether to keep a full-time job to pay your bills and write in your spare time, or try to make a living writing. Many writers keep jobs unrelated to their passion until they publish their first book or find a paid writing job.

2. Find Your Niche and Stick to It

What do you write: prose, poetry, novels, short stories, essays, educational content, etc.? Each writer has a comfort zone, something they excel at. You should identify yours and stick to it, at least until you gain enough experience and confidence to experiment with something else.

3. Carefully Format and Proofread Your Work

It does not matter what you write, you have to do it right. This means excellent flow, impeccable grammar and syntax, and flawless formatting and punctuation. Mistakes will prevent readers from finishing your work and understanding your message, not to mention the awful light they will put you in.

4. Build a Portfolio

If you want to turn writing into a career, you’ll need to prove your skills. Publishers, editors, journals, magazines, content marketing agencies, or any other entities you contact will want to see some of your work. Make sure you have something to show them, by putting together a collection of your best writings, all carefully formatted and proofread.

 5. Believe in Yourself

Even the best writers received their share of rejections from publishers. Just because someone doesn’t like your work, it doesn’t mean it is worthless. It only means you need to work harder to prove and improve yourself. Keep reading and learning, review your work as many times as you need to, and never stop writing!

The Bottom Line about Writing

If you have what it takes to become a writer, your career path will mostly involve following your instincts. You already have the raw material (your talent, your ideas, your inspiration). All you have left to do is pour it out, shape it, polish it, and turn it into a masterpiece.

For every problem you encounter along the way, you’ll find dozens of writing tips from others who have already been in your shoes. Take them with a grain of salt, support them with hard work and commitment to success, and you’ll surely obtain the desired results!

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